EXEED Readjusts Its Reporting Lines Again, Zhang Guibing, Chery's "Overseas Chief", Takes Over the Post from Li Xueyong

Xingtu switches its reporting line.

On August 13, Chery once again adjusted the reporting structure of the Xingtu Division.

In accordance with the needs of strategic development and operation management, Zhang Guibing, Executive Vice President of Chery Automobile, will take charge of the Xingtu Division and report to Zhang Guozhong, the "second-in-command" and Executive Vice President of Chery Automobile. His other positions remain unchanged.

This means that Xingtu, which was adjusted just once last year, has changed its supervising executive again.

Zhang Guibing and Li Xueyong are both Executive Vice Presidents of Chery Automobile. The former has long been in charge of overseas business, while the latter is mainly responsible for domestic business.

In July 2025, Chery established the "Chery Brand Domestic Business Group", which has four divisions under it: Xingtu, Aihu, Fengyun, and QQ. Li Xueyong, Executive Vice President of Chery Automobile, concurrently serves as the General Manager of the Business Group. The previously relatively independent domestic business of Xingtu has been fully incorporated into the newly established business group in terms of organization and functions. Zhijie, JETOUR and iCAR are not affected.

There is no further information showing whether Xingtu will completely withdraw from the domestic business group in terms of administrative relations, but from the new supervision arrangement, Li Xueyong is no longer the direct supervising executive of Xingtu.

This adjustment means that Xingtu's reporting line has shifted from the domestic business track to the overseas business track. However, there is no public synchronous adjustment for Xingtu's direct operation team at present. Liu Hening still presided over the new car launch as the Executive Deputy General Manager of the Xingtu Division at the end of July.

The change happens at the top management level.

Xingtu Has Switched to a New Supervision Line

Zhang Guibing's core work in the past was not focused on domestic business.

He has been in charge of Chery's international business for a long time since around 2018, and is currently Executive Vice President of Chery Automobile and General Manager of the International Business Group. Xingtu is a new responsibility added to his original scope of work.

However, Zhang Guibing is not completely unrelated to Xingtu. When Anhui Xingtu Automobile Co., Ltd. was established in 2021, Zhang Guibing was the legal representative of the company, and this identity has continued to this day.

Zhang Guibing

 

A more direct background comes from the market.

Data released by Chery shows that in July this year, Xingtu's global sales reached 8,376 units, a year-on-year increase of 0.6%; the cumulative sales in the first 7 months were 41,600 units, a year-on-year decrease of 39.3%, which is the brand with a relatively large cumulative sales decline among Chery Automobile's five major brands.

The problem mainly lies in the domestic market. According to the domestic terminal sales statistics from the China Passenger Car Association, from January to July this year, Xingtu's cumulative domestic sales were about 10,900 units, compared with about 34,700 units in the same period last year, a year-on-year decrease of nearly 70%.

The two sets of data have different statistical calibers and cannot be directly subtracted, but the problems reflected are quite clear: Xingtu's overall sales decline this year is mainly under pressure from the domestic market, and overseas business still supports most of the brand's scale.

Xingtu is the high-end brand incubated by Chery with the longest development time. Its first concept car made its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2017, and the Chinese name "Xingtu" was officially announced the following year.

Yin Tongyue calls Xingtu Chery's "peak brand", and once described its position in the group as "Audi of Volkswagen" and "Lexus of Toyota".

Over the past year, Xingtu has continued to adjust its domestic product line. Old models such as Yaoguang, Lanyue and Lingyun have gradually given up marketing resources, and the focus has shifted to new energy products including the ET5, Xingtu ES and ET.

At the end of last year, Xingtu completed its 3.0 brand reshaping. Chery positioned it as "Innovator of Global Premium Performance Brands", and its goal is no longer limited to the domestic market.

In April this year, EX7, the first all-new product of Xingtu's 3.0 era, was launched. It is a large 5-seat new energy SUV nearly 5 meters long, available in both extended-range and pure electric versions, with an official starting price of 199,900 yuan, dropping below 200,000 yuan.

On July 20, the 2027 Xingtu ES was launched with a guide price range of 179,900 yuan to 209,900 yuan. The old pure electric ES launched in May last year was priced at 189,800 yuan to 269,800 yuan. The new model has a narrower price range and a lower price for the high-end version.

After continuous investment in new products and price cuts, domestic sales still have not achieved effective growth. This is the most realistic operation background when Zhang Guibing takes over Xingtu.

What is more tricky is that Xingtu is seeking a breakthrough in domestic sales by lowering its price range, but with the upward expansion of the Fengyun product line, the overlap between the two in some price bands and product segments has intensified.

Xingtu Needs New Growth Space

Last year, Chery incorporated Xingtu into the domestic business group with a clear purpose.

At that time, Chery was reorganizing its increasingly complex brand and product system. Placing Xingtu, Fengyun, Aihu and QQ under Li Xueyong's management system can unify the use of marketing resources and facilitate the coordination of products, prices and channels.

The problem is that over the past year, in order to restore domestic sales, Xingtu has moved closer to the larger-scale brands that are more important in the business group.

In 2024, the main selling version of the Starway ES was still priced above 200,000 yuan. By 2025, the starting price of the extended-range version of the ES has dropped to around 150,000 yuan, and the ET5 has pulled the replacement threshold down to the 130,000-yuan level.

The Fengyun A9L launched in July last year has a super replacement price range of 139,900 yuan to 197,900 yuan. After the new Xingtu ES enters the price range of around 170,000 yuan, there is considerable overlap between the two mid-to-large new energy sedans.

If Xingtu continues to move downward to pursue sales growth, it will become increasingly difficult to draw the product and price boundaries between it and Fengyun. The domestic business group can coordinate resources, but cannot completely eliminate the growth demands of each brand.

Moving upward also faces challenges.

In the 2024 Starway product plan, the ES is a sedan, the ET is an SUV, and there is a luxury MPV codenamed E08. In August 2025, the E08 that was originally planned for mass production was exposed to have its development stopped, and some project staff were transferred to the Zhijie team to participate in the Zhijie MPV project.

Chery has made a necessary coordination between the two high-end projects.

Zhijie has started to show new growth momentum this year. Its sales in July reached 10,709 units, a year-on-year increase of 227.7%, exceeding 10,000 units again after eight months, which is close to the sum of Xingtu's domestic sales in the first seven months.

At the same time, Chery has gained a new foothold in the domestic high-end market.

At the end of March this year, Chery Jaguar Land Rover officially released the FREELANDER brand, planning to launch 6 models in 5 years and build 100 stores covering 60 cities this year. The first mass-produced model, the FREELANDER 8, has rolled off the production line at the end of July.

JETOUR and its Langhang series occupy another segment of the travel, off-road and high-end SUV market.

A few years ago, Xingtu needed to independently fulfill Chery's goal of moving upward in the domestic market. Now, this task can be undertaken by multiple brands together.

Zhang Guibing's taking over of Xingtu provides another possibility.

He has long been in charge of Chery's most advantageous international business. In 2025, Chery's overseas revenue reached 157.4 billion yuan, accounting for more than half of its total revenue; its export volume was 1.29 million units, contributing nearly half of its total sales. The growth has continued to accelerate this year, with exports of 1.15 million units in the first seven months, a year-on-year increase of 71%, and monthly exports in July exceeded 200,000 units for the first time.

Over the past two years, Xingtu's overseas business has also maintained positive growth. Strategic products such as the ES and ET have begun to enter markets including the Middle East and Europe under the EXLANTIX brand. Compared with the domestic market, overseas markets have become a clearer growth fulcrum for Xingtu.

Up to now, there is no evidence showing that Xingtu will adjust its domestic business. This year, the EX7 and the new ES are still being launched intensively, and Xingtu has just completed its 3.0 brand reshaping, with its domestic business just entering a new round of product cycle.

But the new reporting relationship at least opens up another possibility for Xingtu: growth does not have to be sought only from the domestic market.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Auto Pixels", written by Hu Chengxu and Mao Shiyang, and authorized for release by 36Kr.